Morphology and time variability of Io's visible aurora
Abstract
Clear-filter imaging of Io during the Galileo nominal and extended missions recorded diffuse auroral emissions in 16 distinct observations taken during 14 separate eclipses over a two year period. These images show that the morphology and time variability of the visible aurora have several similarities to Io's far ultraviolet emissions. The orbital leading hemisphere of Io is consistently brighter than the trailing hemisphere, probably due to a greater concentration of torus electrons in the wake region of the satellite. The locations of the polar limb glow and the bright equatorial glows appear to correlate with Io's System III longitude. Unlike the far ultraviolet emissions, the visible aurorae are enhanced near actively venting volcanic plumes, probably because of molecular emission by SO_2.
Additional Information
© 2001 American Geophysical Union. Manuscript Accepted: 6 June 2001; Manuscript Received: 28 December 2000. We thank Floyd Herbert and Gilda Ballester for valuable discussions. We appreciate careful and constructive reviews by two anonymous referees. This work was partially supported by the NASA Galileo Mission, some of which is under JPL contract 959538 to Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. (WHS). Janet G. Luhman thanks Melissa McGrath and Ronald J. Oliversion for their assistance in evaluating this paper.Attached Files
Published - 2000JA002511.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 37498
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130313-131303121
- NASA
- 959538
- JPL
- Created
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2013-03-19Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences